Historic Sofala Site: Representations

Dialog on nuafrica list, October 1995

October 26 1995

To: Peter Limb
From: Marq de Villiers

I'm trying to find someone or some source that could tell me about the
old Mozambique trading port of Sofala. I'm doing a book on pre-colonial African
empires, and Sofala was the major trading port for the Monomotapa (Zimbabwean)
empire. What I really need is what it looks like now -- I have a number of
written sources going back to Vasco da Gama telling what it was like then, but I
have no idea whether it still exists. I think it is now either the modern city
of Beira, or close to Beira, and I would love to talk to someone who has seen
it. Any ideas?

Thank you!

I can be reached via above Compuserve address (preferred) or at
jacobus@fox.nstn.ca

Dear Marq,

I seem to recall that Basil Davidson's *Africa* TV series of the 1980's
MAY have included shots of Sofala, though this could easily have been
Kilwa - as far as I can recall off-hand, I think it's an historic old site,
but I've never been there. Would you like me to ask expert opinion? I am
fairly familiar with the history of Monomotapa and there is some solid
historiography on that.

Nova Sofala, I think, is another term for the place in general. A travel
guide I looked at states: "The modern port of Beira .... To the south,
Nova Sofala has a beautiful beach surrounded by tropical scenery near the
site of the famous Arab and Portuguese gold-trading town of Sofala, which
has since been destroyed by the sea." *Traveller's guide to Central &
Southern Africa* p. 130

There is a booklet on the cartography of Sofala that may interest you: